women and men in arsi oromo proverbs: an implication for

74

©2019 by Kafa’ah. This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA

Women and Men in Arsi Oromo Proverbs:

an Implication for Gender Equality

Ayehu Bacha Department of Oromo Folklore and Literature, College of Social Sciences and Humanities,

Jimma University, Oromia, Ethiopia

[email protected]

Lenin Kuto Department of Oromo Folklore and Literature, College of Social Sciences and Humanities,

Jimma University, Oromia, Ethiopia

[email protected]

Abstract

This article is aimed at investigating how men and women are portrayed in Arsi Oromo proverbs. To do this,

proverbs are placed in their wider cultural context and philosophical outlook of the people. To this end,

interview, focus group discussion and document analysis were used as a method of data collection to generate

data on the topic under discussion. Contextual approach was exploited to analyze and synthesize raw data. Multifaceted nature and functions of proverbs are thoroughly discussed in the lens of cultural context. Thus, the

finding of this research unveiled that there are many proverbs portraying both sexes positively and negatively

when seen superficially. However, this research has concluded that (1) it is impossible to wrap up whether

women are subordinate or not and men are dominant in Oromo culture by selecting proverbs in which women

and men are directly or indirectly mentioned, (2) the philosophical outlook of the Oromo does not support the

claim that proverbs are weapon for women’ inferiority and (3) proverbs which seem contradictory to each other

are complementary and cannot give an insightful picture about gender philosophy of the society if detached from

worldview of the society. Thus, proverbs should be placed in the worldview of the society from which they are

flourished and their many edged functions/natures should be taken in to consideration.

Keywords: Oromo/Proverbs;Women and Men Inferiority; Gender Equality.

INTRODUCTION

Proverbs are mirrors in which a

community can look at itself and a stage on

which it exposes itself to others. They

describe its values, aspirations, preoccu-

pations, and the particular angles from

which it sees and appreciates realities and

behavior. What we call mentality or way of

life is best pictured in them (Healey and

Sybertz, 1996: 35). The wisdom of

proverbs has guided people in their social

interactions for thousands of years

throughout the world. Proverbs contain

everyday experiences and common

observations in succinct and formulaic

language, making them easy to remember

and ready to be used instantly as effective

rhetoric in oral or written communication

(Meider, 2004: XI).

Proverbs accompany daily speech

and hence reflect every aspect of life.

People validate their way of thinking,

feeling, attitude, wishes and ideas through

proverbs. In the same move, Oromo oral

literature in general and proverbs in

particular is the curator of the peoples’

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philosophy and worldview. Thus, proverbs,

if analyzed deeply can give exact picture of

the peoples’ way of life, their beliefs, their

worldviews, their etiquette and social

values.

Oromo proverbs have been focus

areas of study for many scholars. These

scholarly works are those aimed at

describing and analyzing proverbs in

general and those focusing on portrayal of

women in proverbs in particular.

Accordingly, Korram’s (1972) work on

collection of proverbs from Eastern

Oromia, Mengesha’s (1992) collection and

analysis of Oromo proverbs and sayings,

collection of proverbs by Oromia Culture

and Tourism Bureau are important

scholarly contributions for the collection of

Oromo proverbs. Tadese’s (2002) article

entitled as ‘social functions of Oromo

proverbs’ focused on functional analysis of

some Oromo proverbs.

Particularly, Sena (2002) and Jeylan

(2004) have extensively dealt with how

women are depicted in Oromo proverbs.

The study conducted on the way proverbs

construct and perpetuate inequality between

men and women by Hailu (2010), image of

women in Oromo folktales, folksongs and

proverbs by Ahmed (2010) and gender

roles and society’s perception of women in

Macha Oromo verbal arts by Berhanu

(2005) are also notable.

There are also studies dealing with

portrayal of women in proverbs of other

cultures. For instance, Proverbs and

patriarchy: analysis of linguistic sexism and

gender relations among the Pashtuns of

Pakistan by Noor (2015) and the portrayal

of women in Tigrigna proverbs and

proverbial expressions by focusing on the

stereotypical beliefs and behavioral

tendencies by Solomon (2015) are worth

mentioning. Jeylan (2009) in his article

entitled “A Discursive Representation of

Women in Sample Proverbs from Ethiopia,

Sudan, and Kenya” has concluded that there

are strong intertextual and intercultural

threads between the ways proverbs

represent the roles, statuses, and identity of

women and perpetuate inequality.

Though the above mentioned works

depended on fieldwork, they lack

contextual and critical analysis of

interpreting proverbs. Therefore, the current

research is significant as it is the first

attempt to study gender related proverbs in

a balanced analysis of wider philosophical

outlook of the people under investigation.

To explore the images of masculinity

and femininity in Arsi Oromo Proverbs

To investigate how proverbs mirror

philosophical outlook of the people in

relation to gender

To examine when and how gender

imbalance were originated in Arsi

Oromo proverbs

To scrutinize the main functions of Arsi

Oromo proverbs related to gender

METHOD

Collecting voluminous proverbs

within a short period of fieldwork is

impossible; it actually requires years of

work. Thus, to collect proverbs pertinent to

this topic effectively and efficiently, the

methods developed by Unseth (2008) were

considerably used both in interview and

focus group discussion sessions. These

include (1) gathering a group of people

together and providing beverage and foods

culturally appropriate to start informal

conversation which allows for the free flow

of the conversation (2) using situations to

remind people of proverbs, (3) using types

of people to remind people of proverbs, (4)

using key words to remind people of

proverbs, (5) asking people for proverbs

with related meanings and (6) using

proverbs from nearby languages. On the

other hand, the researchers had many other

research projects in the study areas. Since

there is no as such special stage for proverb

usage, the data were collected by using all

opportunities obtained because of this

76 | Kafa’ah Journal, Volume 9 (1), Januari-Juni 2019, (74-86)


extensive and long fieldwork projects. The

researchers also pursued their Bachelor and

Masters Degree and specialized in folklore

and cultural studies which helped them to

analyze the multifaceted nature of proverbs

and significance of context in studying

folklore genres.

Herzfeld (1991) has clearly put that

proverbs are difficult to recall from

memory without an eliciting context or

situation. Due to this reason, employing

methods which are common in social

sciences pose difficulties when studying

proverbs. Hence, interview questions have

been framed by using methods developed

by Unseth (2008). Interview has been made

with relevant individuals in the study area.

In line with this, elderly women and men

were interviewed. Ten informants were

involved in these sessions.

Asking people to simply list long

lists of proverbs in their language will only

elicit a fraction of the proverbs. The biggest

hurdle is generally helping people to

remember their proverbs in an artificial

elicitation setting (Unseth, 2008). Taking

this fact into consideration, the participants

were given different topics of discussion

like proverbs in which men and women are

mentioned, intelligence of men/women, the

relation between husband and wife,

behavior of individuals and proverbs

composed of wellerism in FGD. Similarly,

by using proverbs that have already been

collected by using interview method, the

researchers asked for proverbs that have

similar meanings to generate additional

proverbs. This method enabled the

researchers to elicit as many proverbs as

possible since people with different profiles

were accommodated in the session. The

discussions were made in a vernacular

language to help the discussants to recall

proverbs. In view of that, 6 FGD sessions

were organized to produce diversified

proverbs.

Document analysis was also

employed. Accordingly, proverbs were also

collected from published articles and

theses. Many proverbs used for analysis in

this work are taken from Sena (2002) and

Jeylan (2004) for they have dealt with the

issue in detail.

It is very tricky to put precise

definition of proverbs for they touch upon

every lived experience. Having multiple

nature and vast content, its definition poses

difficulty. Though many scholars are

reluctant to define proverbs, those who tried

lean towards their structure and function.

Mieder (1993, 2004, and 2007) and

Mokitimi (1995) have convincingly shown

that while some proverbs have been

dropped because their language or

metaphor does not fit the modern time, new

proverbs are emerging constantly to reflect

contemporary mores. Mieder (2000) argues

that even the most sophisticated and best

educated people appear to be in need of the

pithy wisdom contained in metaphorical

proverbs, and as such, there has been no

general collapse of proverbiality and no

blackout of proverbs during the time of

reason and rationality.

Hussein (2009) compared the 33

representation of women in sample

proverbs from Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya,

and found a synchronic prevalence of the

sexist proverbs which show that there are

intercultural similarities in the way women

are treated; and that there is simultaneity

and connectivity in the patriarchal

worldview in the countries which serve as

ideological weapons used to persuade the

public of the assumed weaknesses, fragility,

and powerlessness of women (Hussein,

2009:105).

Many authors explicitly or

implicitly argue that most of these

derogatory proverbs have been originated

by men to express their jealousy and fear of

women, and maintain that women have

seldom originated proverbs since men have

historically dominated literature and society

(e.g., Kerschen, 2012; Schipper, 1991,



2003; Dieleman, 1998; Thorburn, 1978;

Granbom, 2010).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Contextual approach was exploited

as a theoretical framework to examine Arsi

Oromo proverbs in their contexts of use.

This was basically because this approach

considers the interrelationship of context,

meaning and function.

The contextual approach to the

study of folklore was developed in the

second half of the 20th century by

folklorists such as Roger Abrahams, Dan

Ben-Amos, Alan Dundes, Robert Georges

and Kenneth Goldstein. They took the

concepts of “verbal behavior” from

linguistics, “functionalism” from

anthropology and linguistics, “ego

mechanisms” from psychology and applied

them in the study of folklore. In the study

of folklore, thus, “they object to the text

being extrapolated from its context in

language, behavior, communication,

expression and performance. The

contextual approach shares some features

with the functional approach. Similar to the

functional approach, it focuses on functions

of folklore in a socio-cultural setting in a

society. It calls attention to the function of a

folkloric form in its context of use. Thus, a

folklorist searches for not only text but also

context (Dorson, 1972; Finnegan, 1992).

In this approach, it is important to

note who speaks a particular folkloric form,

how it is spoken, to whom it is spoken and

the response of the listener to that item. The

notion that much of the meanings and

functions of proverbs come from the

contexts in which they are used, therefore,

understanding the meaning and function of

proverbs is possible when a context

(situation) of folklore (proverb) is studied is

the basis of the approach (Tadesse,

2004:33).

White (1987) observes that the

contextual approach to the study of folklore

underscores the interrelationship of context,

meaning and function of a folkloric form.

In other words, the contextual approach to

the study of folklore emphasizes a

description of a meaning and function of a

particular folkloric text (e.g. a particular

proverb) in specific context and then comes

up to the identification of meaning and

function of a folkloric form in a society in

general.

RESULTS

Below are alphabetical list of

Oromo proverbs in which men and women

are mentioned. Next to the list, the

contextual meaning, philosophical

underpinning and the narration behind the

proverbs will be provided.

Abbaan gindo’o1; haati gingilcha’a. (A

father is like a vase while mother is like

a sieve (tolerant).

Abbaan Waaqa; haati lafa2 (Father is

like god while mother is like earth).

Akka dhudhuufaa baatettuu akka Harree

boojitu beeke jette ta ilmi harree

booji’ee itti gale (I recognized that you

were going to captivate donkey as you

were farting when leaving home said a

mother whose son captivated donkey)

Beerti furdoo malee guddoo hin qabdu

(Women are fat, but not great).

1 A flat basket made of migira (thick plaiting grass); it is used for storing locally-made bread (biddeena)

after it is baked in the special clay bread pan called

eelee; it is also an instrument for winnowing. 2 The Oromo believe that Waaqa and Lafa (Earth)

are inseparable. They consider the earth as their

mother and their ultimate abode. They underscore

that they suck the breast of the Earth as the baby

sucks its mother’s breast. All things originate from

the Earth and depend on the resources of the Earth

for their survival. For the Oromo, Waaqa is like a

father. He gives them rain and helps the Earth grow

different plants (Workneh, 2005:6).



Cidha beerti feete aanan qodaa hin

hanqatu (When a woman has decided to

go to wedding, her milk does not fall

short of her milk holder).

Dhadhaan fuula ibsa; dubartiin mana

ibsiti (Butter makes the face shining

while women are in charge of

beautifying home).

Dhidhiibbaan toleef dhiirti hin dhalatu

(making convenient sexual intercourse

cannot be a guarantee for giving birth to

a son)

Dhiira argaa hin quufan; argan quufan

(A good physical appearance of men

does not assure his good sexual

intercourse).

Dhiirsi waa naa hin goone dhuufuun na

ajjeese (A useless husband assaulted me

by his fart)

Dubartii fi harreen dullaa jaalatti.

(Women, a dog and walnut tree, the

more you beat them, the better they be).

Dubartiin deessuu malee beektuu hin

qabdu. (A woman may be fertile, but not

intelligent).

Dubartiin dhiira deessi malee dhiira hin

geettu. (A woman gives birth to a man,

but she is not equal to him)

Dubartiin faaya dhiiraati (“A woman is

a jewel of a man.”)

Dubartiin gaachana dhiiraati (“A

woman is a shield of a man.”)

Dubartiin lama hin beektu takka hin

wollaaltu (Women are best at one thing

(women are good only at one thing; but

not two).

Dubartiin mala beekti; dhiirti mala

akeekti (men give hints while women are

wise)

Dubartiin yoo dhugaa kennaniif hin

bootti (Women weep when they are

given justice)

Haati harma guuti malee harka hin

guutu. (It is a mother’s breast which

weans, not her hands).

Haati nama deessi; abbaan wadala

harreeti. (A mother is a child bearer; a

father is simply a he-donkey).

Haatiifi gabaan waan harkaa qabdu

namaa kenniti. (A mother and market

offer (give) whatever they have).

Haadhaa fi bishaan hamaa hin qaban

(Mother and water have no cruelty).

Ibiddi dubartiin qabsiifte hin dhaamu (A

conflict aroused by women cannot be

managed)

Ijaaranii manaa keessa jirtaa namaa

nagaa bultee jennaan; qabanni sibiilaa

falakni si dhiiraa akkam bulte jette (it

seems like house and you seems woman

said a man to woman who responded as

‘you are carrying spear like man and

your physical appearance seems man’)3

Jabaan gabbara haadhaa nyaata

jennaan lafaan ka obboleettiituu dhaba

jette jedhan (the strong man takes his

mother’s bride wealth while the delicate

man is denied the bride wealth of his

sister)4

Mootummaan dubartii karra cufaatt’

oolcha (the kingdom of women keep

kraal closed throughout the day)

3 This proverb has a genuine historical background.

Once upon a time, a coward man has been asking a

woman to enjoy love with her. However, he was not

successful because she was not interested to satisfy

his desire. One day, he met her lonely for all men in

the village have marched to war to defend their land

from enemy. This time, ‘though you and your house

are not counted as woman and residence

respectively, how are you?’ he said. She responded ‘you are carrying spear like man and your physical

appearance seems man; how are you anyways?’ to

criticize his presence around village while men are

at war front which needs all men to take part.

4 According to Arsi Oromo, Gabbara is cattle given

to bride’s brother as a form of bride wealth.

However, it is not a custom to take bride wealth for

ones’ mother.



Namni haadha qabu, nama Waaqa qabu.

(Having mother is equivalent to having

God)

Namni niitii hin qabne raasaadhaa galee

yoo qe’eetti dhiyaatu na’a (One who

does not have a wife is unhappy any

time he approaches his compound)

Niitiin tee ilma deettee jennaan eennuun

nama gootee jedhe jedhan namichi (Is

she consider me like human being said

the husband to a man who asked ‘have

your wife gave birth to a son?’

Abbaan muka alaati haati utubaa

manaati (A father is an outside tree

while a mother is a pole of the house)

Nyaanni soogidda malee, manni dubartii

malee hin bareedu (A house without a

woman is like a diet without salt)

Qalbiin beeraa akkuma harma ishee

rarraati (Women’s mentality (thought)

suspends just as their breasts hang in the

air.

Qalbiin Dubartii takka isiinuu

dhungannaan harkaa baddi (A woman

has a single sense (mentality); and she

loses it when one kissed)

Sababaaf na dhaale5 garamaaf na

dhaane. (he became my husband in

pretext of levirate and beaten me for his

belly)

Ta qaawwa qabdu qaaqa hin dhabdu.

(One who have female genital is always

troublesome)

Ta ufii galab godhan dhiirsaa qalbiin

godhan (One has to solve his/her own

problem in order to effectively solve

others’ problem)

Ta ufiifuu hin bulle qondaallan bulchite

(A woman who could not feed herself

5 It is a type of marriage in which the wife of a

deceased husband is inherited by one of his brothers

(Daniel, 2002).

allowed the braves to spend a night at

her house)6

Ta worra moote gabayaa xixxe (A

woman, who dominates her family,

despise all people at market)

Ufiifuu mata galaa eessattiin ana gala

jette ta mata galli fuudhe ( He has no

home of his own, where is he going to

take me)7

The above proverbs, which other

scholars categorize as proverbs showing

women and men positively and negatively,

have contexts in which they are used to

validate thoughts. Some of them arouse

from known historical facts and are directed

to one individual (e.g: proverb no 3, 23 and

28.) Thus it is impossible to generalize

these proverbs to all women and men.

Some other proverbs portray

complementarities of men and women.

DISCUSSION

Many scholars have dedicated their

work to Gadaa system of the Oromo which

directs the life of the people in a holistic

manner. Thus, democratic nature of the

system has been extensively dealt with.

Particularly, the philosophical

underpinnings and institutions of Gadaa

system are designed in a way that gender

balance is kept in equilibrium. Asmerom

(1973) poses the following reflection

6 Sanyoo is institutionalized extramarital

relationships of Oromo women. Men cannot deny

this right and it is a sanctioned freedom to take

lovers (Legesse, 1973: Bartels, 1983). Women

prepare food and feed their sanyoo at the absence of

their husbands. Women always prefer qondaala (a

man with trophies to his name) to make their lover.

7 According to Oromo custom, youths before getting

engaged in marriage should make property of their

own in order to be independent. Mata gala however

is a person who lives in other person’s house to

make his living.



regarding women’s place in Gadaa political

affairs:

…Nevertheless, among the Boran

women do participate in political

activities indirectly through their song

called karile. In their song they use to

criticize the poor decisions made by

men. By doing so, they can force

Gadaa leaders to alter any honorable

decisions. Among other Oromo

groups women are also represented

independently through a tradition of

siiqqee institution.

On the other hand, the Dabballee in

Oromo Gadaa system are completely

regarded as females which can be deduced

from their physical appearance and the

societies’ perception towards them. They

are socialized as females to reduce gender

imbalance which is naturally inherent in

males.

The Dabballee grow their hair long,

usually at shoulder length, and decorate it

with cowry shells. The style is typically

feminine and is, in fact, identical with the

hair style of a class of women whom the

dabballee call their grandmothers. The boys

are not only made to look like girls; they

are also categorically identified with them.

Borana always address them as girls (intal)

when they want to attract their attention. If

the strangers use the masculine pronoun in

talking to them or about them, they are

quickly corrected. The boys either go naked

or they wrap a large shawl around

themselves. This is another decidedly

feminine characteristic (Legesse, 1973:52).

Ayehu et.al (2016) have also clearly

demonstrated that men and women are

equally treated in political, economic and

social aspects of Gadaa system. According

to these scholars, for example, women have

parallel role in gumaa ritual. If they are not

satisfied with what is going on in the

community they protest against the

wrongdoing organized under their

institutions. Itti Deemsisuu (the act of

calling upon the entire multitude to punish

wrongdoers) is organized when women are

treated in an unjust manner. Women’s

utmost engagement in reproductive

activities may have compromised their

visibility in political and administrative

chores. Contrasting to current bureaucratic

responsibility which requires only

intellectual viability, Gadaa governance has

been innovated in a world in which physical

potency was equally important. In the first

place, Gadaa is all about commitment and

community service. It is not about access to

resources and power. Hence, a single Gadaa

law that threatens the right of women

cannot be mentioned in the history of

Gadaa system. Nonetheless, individuals

because of their individual interest might

downgrade or thrash women. These acts

however do not have legal backing. In line

with this, such inhumane acts on women

might be related to weakening of Gadaa

system and emergence of autocratic

systems. For instance, the Oromo saying

“Halaaliffoo nama nyaata; Amaariffoo

nama dhaana (he eats human like hyena

and beats like the Amhara8) is used to

explain the cruel acts of some husbands

against their wives (Ayehu et.al, 2016).

Jeylan (2004) too depict the role of

Gadaa system in maintaining gender

balance. According to him, in areas where

the Gada System is active, as in Borana and

Guji, there have been forces of law

governing gender and other relationships

between members of the society. In areas

where the Gada System is weakened, on the

other hand, there are plenty of reflections of

gender imbalance.

Likewise, the role of Gadaa system

in keeping gender balance can be supported

by the saying “Gadaan laafnaan dubartii

horanne” meaning “we are able to

control/administer women after the

8 Autocratic governments who have been

suppressing the community. The Oromo say

‘Amhara’ to mean formal government which was

against the indigenous administration system.



weakening of Gadaa system”. This

evidently shows that there are institutions

working for women’s right in Gadaa

system. Similarly, infiltration of

Christianity and Islam in to the Oromo land

has also relegated the status of women

among the Oromo. These denominations

evidently justify domination of men over

women.

In the same fashion, it is repeatedly

reported that women cannot air their view

freely. Similarly, some writers have

claimed that girls do not have any say in

marriage arrangement. They are married to

a groom who fulfills the criteria and interest

of their parents (Daniel, 2002). According

to Oromo philosophy, both abduction and

aseennaa9 do have significance for the

community. Aseennaa is marriage type in

which the girl leaves her family and joins a

man on her own will. This is done without

the awareness of the man and his family

and they cannot reject the request. The

same incident happens in case of abduction

for a boy takes a girl without her

willingness. In principle, the man forcefully

marries the girl; practically however, there

are instances in which women have

awareness of the situation and facilitate the

procedure (Beyene, 2006). This type of

marriage is even preferred and initiated by

women when situation forces them. There

is one proverb which goes “aseennaa natu

dide; kennaa warratu dide; maal ta’a yoo

na butani” (“Aseennaa is not my interest;

my parents are not searching husband for

me; it is my pleasure if I am abducted” said

a girl). This proverb clearly indicates the

preference of abduction by women in

certain situations. For example girls

remaining unmarried are dishonored. In

general, these two types of marriages

complement each other and they keep

equilibrium. As a result, this proverb is a

viable tool to air their view in such

situations.

9 marriage type initiated and arranged by only

would-be wife

Similarly, the proverb which goes

“Ani ufiif hin jennee, mucaan keessan ka

hangafaa sun fuudha hin geennee? jette

intalti mucaa kajeelte” (It is not for myself;

have your eldest son reached for marriage

said a girl who desired a boy) also reveal

the same fact. Hailu (2010) indicates that

proverbs construct and perpetuate

inequality between men and women in

social community and the basic structures

that convey non neutrality in oral literature.

For him, proverbs exaggerate the weak side

of women under the coverage of cultural

ideology, and are used as cultural tools to

convey the biased system for domination

and oppression of women. Mind set and

social set of new comers (generation)

should be changed and proverbs can

function as a means for such a

revolutionary change which restores the

honor and respect of women in our society.

Kerschen’s (1998) focusing on

exposing some of the existing tensions in

American proverbs about women purports

that proverbs downgrading women have

outlasted the circumstances that

popularized them. Contrary to the above

generalizations, Dundes (1965) has vividly

put that we cannot censor and/stop folklore.

The above assertion basically is a violation

of anthropological and folkloric principles

which urge researchers to understand the

society instead of teaching them or

censoring their knowledge. Ahmed (2010)

on the other hand puts that images of

women in Arsi Oromo folktales, folksongs

and proverbs have been portrayed both

positively and negatively and that images of

women in all the three genres were highly

distorted though some positive images also

existed. However, the largest parts of the

collected folktales, folksongs and proverbs

have represented women in a negative and

distorted manner. That is, some positive

and negative representations of women

exist only in the proverbs but not in the

folktales and folksongs. In general, the

overall result revealed that the deep-rooted

attitude of the patriarchal society attempted



to establish the superiority of men and

subordination of women in its oral literature

In the same move Berhanu (2005)

concluded that verbal arts propagate,

validate and maintain the prevailing gender

system and the traditional gender based

division of labor among the society. Macha

Oromo use verbal arts to maintain

conformity to accepted patterns of behavior

and to inculcate its values, norms and

mores in the minds of its members. In many

verbal arts, women seem to have been

characterized to possess behaviors deemed

inappropriate in the society and were made

to suffer from the punishment, implying

that they should conform to the norm so as

to live peacefully and get acceptance in the

community. Berhanu therefore urged the

folk to change their attitude and perception

towards women and abstain themselves

from using verbal arts which are sexist and

designed to distort women’s image in the

society in any way.

Qanbar Nada (2012) came across

the same conclusion after studying Yemeni

proverbs. For him too, women's image in

the Yemeni proverbs has been found to

have two sides: the negative side which

occupies the major part, and the positive

one which is marginal and extremely weak.

He wrapped his study by stating that almost

all proverbs degrade and devalue women

and this negative image is deeply ingrained

in the society and does not change with

their age or social role.

Therefore, almost all the preceding

scholarly works conclude that women are

negatively portrayed in proverbs of all

cultures and proverbs are weapon for

women inferiority. The succeeding

arguments therefore test whether this

conclusion is valid for the Oromo or not.

Jordan & de Caro (1986) in opposition to

the above conclusion put that surveys of

folklore texts or studies of particular items

of folklore that are antiwoman are not

without value, but they suffer from a

weakness that has been a part of folklore

studies. Ignoring the cultural context in

which those texts were written yields only

limited knowledge about culture and

cultural attitudes, especially when the texts

may be chosen in a random and superficial

way.

Finnegan (1970) also argue that

“...the same proverb may often be used,

according to the context, to suggest a

variety of different truths, or different facts

of the same truth, or even its opposite.”

Therefore, the production and interpretation

of a proverb is a function of a complex

interaction between macro aspects of social

context (the broader societal and

institutional background) and micro aspects

of social context (the immediate contexts of

utterance). No full understanding can be

reached without some knowledge of the

occasions and purposes of their actual use.

To consider the myriad different occasions

(and hence meanings) would manifestly be

impossible-as a Fante elder put it, ‘There is

no proverb without the situation’ (ibid).

Arewa and Dundes (1964) also

stress the importance of studying the

context and use of proverbs, “What are the

rules governing who can use proverbs, or

particular proverbs, and to who? Upon what

occasions? In what places? With the

presence or absence of whom? In many of

the definitions formulated for proverbs, it is

common to witness that proverbs are truth

and they reflect reality of life. Here, the

challenging question is ‘how can two

proverbs which seem opposite be true at the

same time? In the following paragraphs, the

researchers will try to address this exigent

question.

Miruka (1994:36) and Dundes

(1994:35) conceive a proverb as short,

brief, obscure or gnomic statement

expressing a supposed wisdom, truth or

moral lesson. For them, proverbs contain

folkwisdom, popularly accepted truth and

are frequent in the day to day

communication of people. Holman (1980)

too asserts that proverb is the sentence or a



phrase which briefly and strikingly

expresses some recognized truth or shrewd

observations about practical life.Thus, one

can understand that proverbs are true and

every society validates them based on its

practical life.

For Mieder (2004) there are

proverbs for every imaginable context and

they are thus as contradictory as life itself.

But when the proper proverb is chosen for a

particular situation, it is bound to fit

perfectly and it becomes effective formulaic

strategy of communication. Kerschen

(1998) too put that for every proverb that

promotes the submissiveness of women,

there is another that admits that women will

not always accept a subordinate position

but will find a way around it.

As a result, we can undoubtedly find

opposite proverbs in a given culture. The

same thing is true for the Oromo proverbs.

For example:

1. “Manni utubaa hin qabnee fi manni

dubartii hin qabne tokko (A house

without pole and a house without

woman is the same)” VS “dhiirri

utubaa manaati” (Males are pillar of

house).

2. Udaaniif dubartiin xiqqoo hin qabdu (A

feces and a woman (a girl) are never be

little enough) versus Dhiirri xiqqoo hin

qabdu (Men are never said little)

3. Kan hanga ofii beektu dhiiraan maqoo

hin teettu (She who knows her level

(status) would not sit beside a man)

versus dubartiin waaqa diqqoo

(Women are little god).

4. Hantuunni boolla lama qabdu hin duutu

(A rat which have two holes won’t die)

versus Saree mana lamaa nyaattu

waraabessatu gidduutti nyaata (A dog

eating from two houses will be assailed

by hyena)

In the first contradictory proverbs

both men and women are depicted as pole

of house. When these two proverbs come

together, it is logical enough to conclude

that both men and women are equally

important for one family among the Oromo.

In case of the second pair proverbs, both

men and women are claimed not to be

simple. The third pair presents image of

women in a completely opposite

continuum. The first one depicts them as

inferior to men while the second gaudily

equate them with god. Coming to the fourth

couple of proverbs, there are particular

situations in which individuals are required

to have a firm stand rather than being

reluctant. Opposite to this, there are also

circumstances in which one must devise a

multiple of alternatives to withstand/

manage failures. Therefore, having two

alternatives are encouraged and criticized in

proverbs of the same people.

These paired proverbs which seem

contradictory are complementary. Thus, in

order to grasp gender understanding of the

Oromo in a full-fledged manner, we have to

carefully analyze such proverbs which seem

contrary to each other. The other fact

nullifying the arguments of those scholars

who merely focus on some proverbs to

conclude that women are subordinate is the

reality that proverbs are directed to one

individual. For instance, the proverbs we

used above are not directed to all women;

they are forwarded to a single woman who

is believed to show such characteristics.

Generally, one should know the reality that

proverbs have two edged functions.

Thus all proverbs including the

contradictory ones have their appropriate

setting (time and place) in which they serve

the society. That is why one should strictly

consider the context which triggered usage

of a given proverb. If we see the above

proverbs at their face value, there are

proverbs addressing women positively and

negatively. In the same fashion, this leads

us to the conclusion that women are

respected and humiliated in a single society

at the same time. However, this assertion is

self defeating if scrutinized carefully. How



can we say that the same people have the

philosophy of degrading and revering

women at the same time? One of the claims

should be fallacious which incite us to

inspect social institutions of the people in

relation to gender.

In the same move, scholars should

be cautious of the fact that proverbs are

directed to one individual who is believed

to exhibit the behavior in a given context.

Both man and woman can demonstrate

weakness and strength. Thus, proverbs are

directed to such individuals (either man or

woman). Proverbs are not used to

degrade/venerate men/women in a genera-

lized manner. Rather, a single proverb is

used for a single behavior, context and

person. Thus, it is illogical to select a given

proverb to conclude about men or women.

In short, proverbs denigrating women have

no institutional and philosophical backing

in the Oromo.

CONCLUSION

The Oromo are the storehouse of

proverbs showing its philosophy,

psychology, worldview, history and totality

of its life. One can write ethnography of the

Oromo by systematic and careful study of

its proverbs. This however needs careful

consideration of complicated nature of

proverbs and wider institutional values of

the people. Cultural researchers should also

consider the wider worldview of a given

society rather than isolating one genre and

rendering conclusion or rushing to

generalizations. Although the study is not

claiming generalizability of the study

beyond the Oromo people, it is the true

reflection of the philosophy of the people

studied. This calls for the reconsideration of

the biased assumption that there are gender

biased Oromo proverbs. They shall be

considered as a means of freedom of

expression for individuals. Its plausibility

shall be based on contexts, justifications

and wider institutions. Though Oromo

proverbs are often regarded as a weapon for

women subordination and tool of

patriarchy, other genres of folklore should

also be critically investigated to test

reliability of this assertion and get complete

picture of Oromo philosophy.

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